Rex Tillerson Used Email Alias at Exxon to Discuss Climate Change, New York Says

Rex Tillerson, then the chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp., at the World Gas Conference in Paris in 2015. The New York attorney general’s office says Mr. Tillerson, now the U.S. secretary of state, used an alias email to discuss risk-management issues related to climate change.
Photo:
Christophe Morin/Bloomberg News

The New York attorney general accused
Exxon Mobil Corp.
XOM -0.32%
Monday of withholding documents from his office as it investigates whether the energy company misrepresented its understanding of climate change to investors and the public.

Lawyers for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office said in court documents that Exxon hadn’t disclosed that
Rex Tillerson,
the former chairman and chief executive, used an alias email address to discuss risk-management issues related to climate change. Mr. Tillerson, now the U.S. secretary of state, used the pseudonym “Wayne Tracker” from at least 2008 to 2015, according to the attorney general.

“Despite the company’s incidental production of approximately 60 documents bearing the ‘Wayne Tracker’ email address, neither Exxon nor its counsel have ever disclosed that this separate email account was a vehicle for Mr. Tillerson’s relevant communications at Exxon,” Senior Enforcement Counsel John Oleske said in a letter to New York Supreme Court Justice Barry Ostrager.

Exxon said in a statement it has provided more than 2.5 million pages of documents in response to a subpoena from Mr. Schneiderman’s office, and will respond to the claims in court. The company acknowledged that Wayne.Tracker@exxonmobil.com address is part of the company’s email system.

“[It] was put in place for secure and expedited communications between select senior company officials and the former chairman for a broad range of business-related topics,” the company said. But reports “indicating that emails to or from this address were exclusively climate-related are false.”

A spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman’s office declined to comment. A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Mr. Oleske said in the letter Monday that despite promising to “move heaven and earth” to comply with a subpoena, Exxon had withheld documents related to senior management, including from 34 email accounts assigned to top executives, board members and their assistants.

The New York attorney general and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are also investigating how Exxon values its assets in a world of increasing climate-change regulations, a probe that could have far-reaching consequences for the oil and gas industry.

The Irving, Texas-based company has played down questions about its modest asset write-downs, saying it is extremely conservative in booking the value of new fields and wells. In January, Exxon said it wrote down the value of more than $2 billion in U.S. assets, departing from decadeslong practice.

It is unclear at this stage what impact the investigations may have on Exxon, if any. Mr. Schneiderman has broad powers to investigate corporations under New York state’s Martin Act, including civil and criminal claims against companies for securities violations.